Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 98, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 September 1934 — Page 1
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U. S. PRISONS OPERATED ON CIVIL SERVICE All Guards Are Free From Political Intrigue and Similar Evils. PARALLELS TIMES PLAN Training Centers Are Set Up by Justice Department for Appointees.
Cnnvinffd that Indiana* penal and law enforcement tyntenw miW be revised. The Indianapolis Times is presenting a series of articles pertinent to such reform. The Times urges selection of a central department of correction. its officials to be chosen on a civil service basis; appointment of all wardens and their executive assistants from civil service lists; removal of county jails from the control of politically named sheriffs, and operation of the state police on a civil service basis.
All guards in federal prisons and reformatories are under civil service. This fact stood out today in examination of the nation's penal and correctional institutions by The Indianapolis Times in its efforts to effect reforms in the methods of selecting the personnel of state penal and correctional institutions and of state law enforcement agencies. The federal government not only insists that guards in its prisons and reformatories be under civil service, but extends its thorough civil service system to include clerical workers, machinists, laundrymen. and other incidental workers in these institutions. Wardens and their deputies are appointed by the attorney-general, now Homer Cummings, on the recommendation of the prisons bureau director, now Sanford Bates. Mr. Bates, who conferred recently with Governor Paul V. McNutt on the Indiana situation at the Governor's request, is one of the nation* leading penal authorities. It is seldom that the attorneygeneral fails to follow his suggestions and Mr. Bates is active in keeping politics to a minimum. The guards, who start with a basic pay of $1,680 a year, must serve a probationary period of one year. Outline Duties in Detail “Under usual conditions,” says the formal notice of their examination, “the opportunities for advancement, after completion of probation, depend upon individual efficiency, increased usefulness and available funds. “No preliminary experience is required to enter this (civil service) examination,” the government says at another point, "but applicants should state in their application all experience they have had tending to qualify them for the duties of the position.” These duties are outlined in detail as follows: “To guard inmates of a penal or correctional institution and prevent escapes or unauthorized communication with persons outside the institution; to enforce institutional regulations and maintain discipline through strength of character and personal attributes rather than by physical force; to participate in the administration of service activities to be organized in the various institutions; to supervise details of inmates at assigned tasks; to report on conduct and work accomplished, and to perform related work as assigned.” Believe* in Training The government believes, too. In the training which The Times insists Is so essential if proper penal, correctional, and law enforcement work Is to be earned out. “The justice department has established training centers for the instruction of appointees to guard positions in the duties to be performed and in general penal institution service,” the examination bulletin explains. The course of training takes from four to six months and appointees must pay their own traveling expenses to the training centers. Copies of the examinations given applicants are not available in Washington, but it is described as a "mental test.” To be eligible to take the examination, applicants must file proof of physical fitness. HEAVY RAIN. DROP IN MERCURY FORECAST Temperature* Expected to Fall More Than 10 Degree*. State fair visitors will have a taste of heavy rain and a sudden downward dip in temperatures tonight and tomorrow, according to the weather bureau forecast. The mercury is expected to drop more than ten degrees due to a high pressure field from the northwest. The temperature at 10 a. m. today was 73. Times Index Bridge 6 Classified . 10 Comics 11 Crossword Puzzle 7 Curious World 11 Editorial 4 Hickman—Theaters 9 Hobby 7 Radio 7 Sport* $, 9 State News 12 State Pair Program 12 Woman’s Pages 6, 7 Because of the holiday schedule es The Times under which onlv one edition Is published, the columns bv Heywood Broun and Westbrook P*fler no not appear togjtjr.
The Indianapolis Times Rain tonight and probably tomorrow morning followed by clearing; much cooler.
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VOLUME 46—NUMBER 98
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AUTO IS UPSET, BOY LOSES LIFE South Side Lad Is Killed in Accident on Madison Avenue. Ralph Huett, 11, of 1361 Union street, was injured fatally early today when a coupe in which he was riding was overturned in the 5300 block, Madison avenue, after, police say, the driver had dozed at the wheel and the car had left the road. Young Huett, whose death was
the second traffic fatality of the week-end and the eightieth of the year in Marion county, was one of four persons riding in the driver's
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seat of the coupe with Walter Brown. 21, of 1868 Singleton street, as driver. Brown, against whom police placed no charge, was the only one to escape uninjured. The Huett boy, caught under the car, died of a fractured skull on the way to city hospital. His brother, Claude Huett, 21, and his mother. Mrs. Louvestia Huett, 38. both of the Singleton street address, were taken to city hospital in serious conditions. Claude Huett suffered a broken right arm and internal injuries; his mother, cuts and bruises and internal injuries. T£e other week-end traffic death was*that of Mrs. Mary Elstrod, 70, of 401 South Randolph street, who succumbed yesterday in city hospital to injuries received Saturday night when she was struck at Pine street and Virginia avenue by an automobile driven by Arthur L. Franklin. 31, of 1333 Hoyt avenue. Police reports state that Mrs. Elstrod stepped from the curb in front of Mr. Franklin's car. The number of persons more or less seriously injured in accidents early today, yesterday and late Saturday was counted light in view of the heavy press of traffic caused by the Indiana state fair and the annual Labor day migration.
2 GIRLS ATTACKED, KILLED IN ICE BOX Children Believed Victims of Itinerant. By r nited Prrnt . SACRAMENTO. Cal.. Sepi. 3 Two little girls -found suffocated in the refrigerator of their farm home were assaulted criminally before their deaths, indicating a possibility of murder, an autopsy surgeon reported today. A 2-year-old boy held the secret of the manner in which his sisters. Mary Paiva. 6, and Marion, 7, met their deaths. Until Dr. C. H. McDonald's startling discovery. Sacramento county authorities believed that Alfred. 2. had closed the ice box door after his sisters had crawled inside. Sheriff's officers believe that either an itinerant or some neighj boring youth may have attacked the girls. Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 67 8 a. m 70 7 a. m 68 9 a. m 71 10 a. m 73
Prospects Dim of City Receiving Gas Proposals , Quotations on Bonds of Local Companies Drop
With prospects dim for the city receiving proposals for the purchase of revenue bonds of the Citizens Gas Company plant by tomorrow, the Anal date for submitting propositions. observers today pointed to the recent trend of Indianapolis Gas Company bonds and also of Citizens Gas Company bonds as an interesting phase of the situation. Indianapolis gas bonds now are quoted in New York at 80. as against quotations of 87 two months ago. Citizens Gas bonds have shown a similar downward trend in recent weeks, the present quotation being SO 92. If these bone's were showing the same trend as those of other local public utilities, they would be
FAIREST OF FAIR FARE WELL IN INVASION OF STATE FAIR
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A photographer at the Indiana state fair fared well when he sought some of the fairest of the fair and found that they were fairly well acquainted with chickens, pigs, and horses besides the culinary and housekeeping arts. Miss Nora Brandson (upper left) took a brief rest at one of the fair stands long enough to down a glass of foamy draught beer. Miss Betty Emsweller (upper center) getting on good terms with a couple of Columbian Wyandottes. She's not crowing about what she knows about chickens, but the chickens are. Beauty, or one big porker, is an armful for Miss Fleta Andrew’ of Switzerland county (upper right). Miss Betty Carrel. 2255 North La Salle street (lower) with Nell, champion mare owned by Woods Caperton, Carmel.
Attendance Marks Fall at Indiana State Fair Labor Lays Aside Lunch Pail and Heads for Fairground to See Hoosierdom’s Greatest Show. Labor laid aside its lunch pail and grimy overalls today to pay its tribute to Hoosier agriculture and livestock at the Indiana state fair. Rocking to the fairground by auto and street car, many who a year ago did not have the price of fair admission, made the day a fete for their families and caused fair officials to remark, “Better times are here again.”
Last year, 63.001 attended the fair Labor day. This year the crowd was expected to reach at least 75.000. Showers throughout the night served as a dust-settler and made the track firm for the Grand Circuit races which w r ere to open today with the $1,500 Hotel Lockerbie stake for 2:11 pacers. In the Coliseum, 4-H Club boys from fifty counties vied for Purdue scholarships in picking out the merits and demerits of cattle. Judging of open steer classes and Rambouillet sheep and a contest for horse grooms were other features that drew vacationers from factories and offices. The Recovery building. “Alphabet House,” with its instructive movie of the Indiana state employment service, “How Men Get Jobs,” was one of the magnets for labor's own today. Tonight the elite of the equine
quoted around 95, competent observers said. Significance of this, it is pointed out. Is that if there were any serious expectation on the part of local bond houses, or of bond houses in New York and Chicago, that the city either could or would take over the Citizens company, these bonds would show an upward trend, instead of dropping. This is particularly true in the case of Citizens Gas bonds, for if the city should acquire the property these bonds would have to be taken up at once at par. The same reasoning may be applied to Citizens Gas Company stock, declare those conversant with the situation. This stock has a par value of $25 a share, but now is selling at around sls. If the city took over the Citizens prop-
INDIANAPOLIS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1934
world will cakewalk, trot in three and five-gaits, with the opening of the horse show in the Coliseum. Avery's pageant and "Diamond Revue” is another night feature of the eighty-second annual exposition at the grandstand. Governor's day and Indiana day will be celebrated jointly tomorrow with a horse-pulling contest in front of the grandstand as one of the morning highlights. The fair took on a martial note yesterday when the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars attended en masse. New Albany's drum corps, state champions in 1932 and 1933, easily walked away with the Class A bugle and drum competition. Yesterday was a record Sunday with 14.769 paid admissions. The previous record, 14,462, was set in 1929.
erty, the stock must be redeemed at par. There is little chance of the city receiving bids for revenue bonds, unless it be from some financial house that couples with the bid a requirement that the city enter into a •management contract.” whereby the investment house would manage the gas property during the life of the bonds, observers say. Under such a contract, the parties purchasing the bonds would feel confident in managing the plant so as to produce a net profit with which to pay interest and principal of the bonds. The most likely prospect probably would be a natural gas firm willing to furnish money on revenue bonds to enable the city to take over the Citizens Gas property, provided,
STEINSBER6ER IN FRONTBY 3,000 Race Is Almost Over; Watch for the Winner in Tomorrow’s Times. THE STANDINGS Fred XV. Steinsberger 32,224 Dr. Will H. Smith Jr 29,126 Dr. Paul Kernel 20,195 Fred W. Krueger 19.530 Dave Mitchell 12,934 Choked into handbags and shoe boxes, came the avalanche of ballots today as the end of the 1930 Brown Derby contest neared. Promptly at 7 o'clock tonight the last vote will be received. The winner of the crown of the “most distinguished citizen” will be announced in tomorrow’s editions of The Indianapolis Times. Then on Thursday night at 8 in front of the state fair grand stand the new king will receive his regal hat, the silver plaque and will give his coronation address. The king will be paraded through the city streets. Watch for that parade! Fred W. Steinsberger, president of the Indianapolis Retail Meat and Grocers’ Association, led Dr. Will H. Smith Jr., president of the Cosmopolitan Democratic Club, by a margin of 3,000 votes. Forces backing Dr. Paul Kernel and Fred W. Krueger, respectively of the Hoosier Athletic Club and the Walgreen drug stores, found the pace too stiff and the race narrowed to the two leaders. Who will it be? Steinsberger or Smith? The answer will be in tomorrow’s Times. SIO,OOO SPEED RACE DRAWS FLYING FINS Thompson Classic to Be Run Late Today. By United Brens CLEVELAND, Sept. 2.—Sheer speed captivated a record-breaking crowd at the national air races today, while the nation's swiftest racing planes weie groomed for the premier speed classic of the year—the SIO,OOO Thompson trophy pylon race. Internationally known racing and stunting pilots went through their paces before a crowd, which was expected to reach 100,000 by the time the Thompson is run over a 100mile course late this afternoon. The race, most thrilling of all air spectacles, is run around an eight one-third miles course in twelve laps. With most of the planes capable of speed approaching 300 miles an hour—five miles a minute—on the straightaway, pilots must make a dangerous bank around a pylon about every twelve seconds. FALL - FATAL TO YOUTH Four Story Drop Down Shaft Kills 20-Year-Old Worker. Virgil Wincel, 20, of 18 North Tremont street, died today of injuries suffered Friday when he fell four stories down an elevator shaft at the Acme-Evans Milling Company, <52 Washington avenue. Dr. John A. Salb, deputy coroner, has started an investigation into the death.
however, it would be permitted to manage the plant. This would make it possible to bring in natural gas and place the property’s operations on a better financial basis. The Citizens Gas Company’s record in losing money during the last i two years on operation of its coke!*oven plant would tend to make any ; financial concern insist upon a I change in working conditions before ’ it would agree to buy bonds payable only from revenues of the property, finance experts point out. Meanwhile, the prospect Is not very bright for the averrge consumer to get 1,000 British thermal units of gas for 50 to 60 cents per 1 1.000 cubic feet, as consumers do In many other cities, instead of paying . 95 cents for 570 B. T. U. gas as consumers now do in Indianapolis.
FEAR STRIFE IMMINENT AS 600,000 PREPARE TO PICKET TEXTILE PLANTS
Sullivan Puts City on ‘Live- Within- Your-Means ’ System, Saves Up $643,519 Shows Favorable Balance Despite Difficulties; With Woollen’s Aid, Mayor Makes Department Heads ‘Toe the Line’ to Make Town Going Business. Handed a $567,000 indebtedness of its predecessor as part of its 1030 budget, the city administration of Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan has worked out, in four years, its financial salvation and will end 1934 with an estimated favorable balance of $643,519. This has been accomplished without curtailment of playground and other recreational activities, of hospital efficiency, or of public health work and without barm to the all-important police and fire fighting units.
It has been accomplished, too, in the face of a drop of $180,000,000 in the assessed valuation of city real estate from 1931 to 1934. Without this valuation loss, Mayor Sullivan and Controller Evans Woollen Jr., could frame civil city budget for 1935 without dropping a single item from the present budget, and need only a levy which would allow the civil city, the school <yty, the state, the township and the county to come within their $1.50 statutory limitation. This theoretical budget would give city taxpayers a rate of 65 cents as against the sl.lß rate on which the city council will act Monday night. The sl.lß figure is a 13-cent reduction under last year’s $1.31, highest in the city's history. $511,162,710 Is Valuation Administration spokesmen say that the 65-cent rate would be possible if the civil city was operating in the coming year, 1935, on an assessed valuation of $691,326,210, the 1931 valuation, on which a budget was based that year. The assessed valuation of property in the city for tax purposes in 1934-1935 is $511,162,710. This is an estimated loss in tax yield of $21,062 on each cent of the tax levy. Statisticians estimate that if the city now were operating under the 1931 valuation it would be operating one cent over its proportional share of the $1.50 tax levy and that this cent could be cut to remain within the legal levy. “Pay As You Go” Plan When Mayor Sullivan took office he was handed a budget in which $567,000 had been budgeted as judgment bonds to pay off debts which had been piled up over a period of years. At the close of 1933, the mayor presented a budget which showed a balance of $248,058.98, while 1934 is expected to show $643,519.18, of which $265,302 will be used to cut the city’s tax rate and finance expenditures for 1935. The system in use is interesting. Every department of the municipal government has been placed on a budget control system, which, in less technical words, is a “Live-Within-Your-Means” plan. Each department is budgeted on the basis of seasonal expenses and the funds are not divided arbitrarily into equal monthly amounts. Called On the “Carpet” For instance, the park department budget for summer months is larger than for the winter months because of the naturally greater activity. Asked for explanation of the “Live - Within - Your - Means” program, Controller Woollen explained that where no records of incurred obligations were kept by former administrations, this is changed and now ledger sheets in the controller’s office show the disbursements and incumbrances of each department.” “When we find a department spending more than its budget allows for any season of the year, Mayor Sullivan is notified,” said Controller Woollen, “and the department head is called ‘on the carpet’ by the Mayor and explanations are in order. “The ledger sheet is our control or red flag,” continued the controller. “If the explanation is not satisfactory, the department is forced to curtail expenses to remain within its budget. No fund transfers have been made for any department.” Due to Good Management Thus, it appears that the city has become a going business firm with a black-inked ledger for the first time in the last six years. Department heads, said Mr. Woollen, are eager to co-operate with the plan for keeping the city out of debt (Turn to Page Two)
Be Sure to Read The Truth About Conditions Inside Indiana State Prison * A series of sensational disclosures that reveal what ever?’ Hoosier ought to know about the situation at the state penitentiary. Watch for this series . . . starting soon ... in The Times
Entered ** Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis. Xnd.
RUSS COLUMBO KILLEDBY SHOT Radio and Screen Crooner Is Victim of Tragedy at Chum’s Home. By United Pres* HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 3.—A bullet accidentally fired from an ancient muzzle-loading dueling pistol today had brought death to Russ Columbo, 26, radio and screen crooner. Lansing Brown Jr., Hollywood photographer and Mr. Columbo's boyhood chum, accidentally set off the weapon that shot the actor in the cameraman's home yesterday. Mr. Brown, starting to light a cigaret, placed a match in front of the hammer and pulled the trigger to light it. The spark set off the powder, and the bullet ricocheted from a mahogany table into the actor’s brain. Mr. Columbo was rushed to a hospital where he died before an operation could be performed. Police cleared Mr. Brown of blame. The pistol had been in the possession of the Brown family for many years. It had not been fired in the memory of the present generation. Young Brown said he had snapped the trigger many- times without realizing the pistol contained a bullet and powder. Carole Lombard, film actress whose name had been linked with that of the singer, hurried from her mountain home to the hospital, but arrived too late. The singer.'s real name was Ruggiero Columbo. Although his film career had been brief, he was receiving an average % s.ooo fan letters a week and just had completed a starring role in “Wake Up and Dream.” A native of San Francisto, he played violin solos in the Imperial theater at the age of 14. MOTHER OF MOONEY IS TAKEN BY DEATH Smiling Little Woman Dies After Visiting Son. By United Pren SAN FRANCISCO. Sept. 3.—Mrs. Mary Mooney, 85, the smiling little woman who pleaded with Presidents and- kings to obtain freedom for her son, Tom Mooney, died last night, her greatest wish unfulfilled. Her heart gave out soon after she returned from a visit to San Quentin prison, where her son is serving a life sentence for the 1916 Preparedness day bombings. The Mooneys entertained a forlorn hope that prison ruie can be relaxed temporarily to permit Tom to attend the funeral. They held up definite arrangements until they could be certain. Her death removed Tom Mooney’s most faithful defender. Despite the handicap of illness and age, she : made the “free Mooney” movement world-wide. Collects U. S. Check By Time* Special MARION, Sept. 3—Oldest Grant county resident to receive a cornhog contract check from the federal government is Albert Lucas, 91, Civil war veteran, who was a baby during the administration of Presi- > dent John Tyler.
HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion County. 3 Cent*
Pitched Battles Predicted in South; Peace Moves at Standstill. S. CAROLINA TROOPS OUT Strike May Drag On for Weeks, Is Belief of Labor Experts. (Copyright, 1934. bv United Prassi WASHINGTON, Sept. 3. America's first nation-wide strike made this Labor day the grimmest in the country's history. More than 600,000 workers in cotton, woolgi, worsted silk, and rayon plants were involved in this biggest walkout yet to plague the New Deal. Leaders said 150.000 more in the velvet, drapery, underwear and synthetic yarn mills would be carrying labor's defiant banners before next week-end. Strife was imminent. Pitched battles were predicted. TroopS were called out in South Carolina. Textile chieftains denounced union leaders—and vice versa. Governmental peace overtures were at a standstill. Japanese and British interests hoped to pounce upon American textile markets. The relief burden was magnified. Unless the walkout is settled afc once, labor experts said it might drag on for weeks, and with an ever-increasing circle of misery in its wake. Prepare for Picketing At crack of dawn today in many a mill town workers prepared to picket the factories. Up and down the Atlantic seaboard the workers were called to hundreds of mass meetings. Organizers intended to whip their enthusiasm to fever pitch. Southern mill towns particularly were tense. There Labor day is not widely observed and many a textile plant planned to operate as usual. Minor clashes hinted at what apparently was to come. Francis J. Gorman, chairman of the strike committee of the United Textile Workers, stood by in his headquarters here, scanning reports from the field. “The textile industry will be crippled by Wednesday,” he predicted. “Eighty-five to 90 per cent of the mills will be closed by the end of the week. We expect the nonunion workers to follow union members in the walkout.” Mr. Gorman denounced Communists. He said they were beginning their “dirty work.” Industrialist Is Bitter Mr. Gorman conferred at length with Peter Van Horn, president of the Silk Institute. After the conference Mr. Gorman issued a noncommital statement. Not so Mr, Van Horn. His utterances were bitter. He said: “What the labor leaders really want beyond everything else in this strike is to increase their members and to gain recognition for their union. "It was my distinct impression that the strike committee was turning its back almost completely on the NRA. “The entire method of attack by the labor leaders in calling this A rike is not only one against the industry, but contrary to the plan set up through the President by our government. “I want to urge every worker in the mills operating under the silk code to seriously consider standing by his employer and I personally promise to these loyal workers that I will do everything possible to improve their working conditions.” Gorman Gives His Story Mr. Gorman set forth his side of the story in a radio address. He said: “The history of American textiles is the history of paying insufficient wages, and of ruthless competition among mill owners who cut prices of products but pay dividends by taking them out of the life and wages of their mill hands. “We stand ready to give battle as never before for the right to live, the right to work decently, the right to have decent American homes for our wives and children, and some measure of security for all of us.” He said the strikers would give no quarter until their hours are cut to thirty a week, without wage reductions, until the “stretchout” is eliminated, until the union is recognized as the industry’s labor bargaining agency and until a permanent board is established to settle future disputes. ALL MAJOR MARKETS CLOSED FOR HOLIDAY, Trading to Start as I'snal on Exchanges Tomorrow. All major markets of the nation, including the New York and Chicago Stock Exchanges, were closed today in observance of Labor day. Practically all commodity markets have been closed since Friday. Banks also observed the holiday. All markets will open as usual tomorrow. Motor tuned up. Carburetor adjusted. See Carburetor Sales, 214 East Ohio.—Adv.